Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve studied the art of fiction for many years and was fortunate to have great teachers along the way who knew how to analyze novels to help anyone interested in writing fiction to better see how they work. I also enjoy editing fiction written by other novelists, as this invariably leads to a better understanding of what is possible through the written word. I worked for many years as a bookseller and within the publishing industry. As a bookseller, I set a goal of reading at least one novel from every author in the classics section, and managed to do that.


I wrote

Young Again

By Don Trowden, Valerie McKee,

Book cover of Young Again

What is my book about?

Young Again combines music, magic, and romance in an uplifting fantasy novel. Mabel Johnson has recently turned ninety years old…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Rabbit, Run

Don Trowden Why did I love this book?

The four Updike Rabbit novels are written in the present tense, which is uncommon for fiction but done to help bring more immediacy to the action. This causes the novels to read more like screenplays than when written in the past tense. I chose to write my own book in the present tense as a new challenge after reading all four Rabbit novels in succession. Updike was a master at getting into the interior lives of his characters, revealing their longings, typically not to be obtained. The character Rabbit is a wayward former high school basketball star who marries a childhood sweetheart and is gradually worn down over time by her mother and his own insouciance about everything. Rabbit is a sexist character and Updike wrote with truth about his many characters. 

By John Updike,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Rabbit, Run as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first book in his award-winning 'Rabbit' series, John Updike's Rabbit, Run contains an afterword by the author in Penguin Modern Classics.

It's 1959 and Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, one time high school sports superstar, is going nowhere. At twenty-six he is trapped in a second-rate existence - stuck with a fragile, alcoholic wife, a house full of overflowing ashtrays and discarded glasses, a young son and a futile job. With no way to fix things, he resolves to flee from his family and his home in Pennsylvania, beginning a thousand-mile journey that he hopes will free him from his mediocre…


Book cover of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Don Trowden Why did I love this book?

Ken Kesey was a student of Wallace Stegner, and Stegner did not think much of Kesey, who went on to write this classic within the stream of consciousness fiction movement. My own writing has been influenced by Wallace Stegner, and I can understand why he was not a fan of stream of consciousness fiction. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is written in the present tense, and this pioneering novel does as much as anything I can think of in convincingly blurring the lines between what we consider to be insanity and what is normal. Jack Nicholson starred in the very popular film made from this novel, and anyone who loved the movie but didn’t read the novel should take it for a test drive.

By Ken Kesey,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's 1962 novel has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Now in a new deluxe edition with a foreword by Chuck Palahniuk and cover by Joe Sacco, here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them…


Book cover of Jane Eyre

Don Trowden Why did I love this book?

Not all of this classic novel is written in the present tense, but the mixing of tense is an interesting technique, most likely due to the fact this was originally published under a pen name (as my Don Trowden also is) and is an example of a bildungsroman novel, or semi-autobiographical fiction. Few knew how to pull on our heartstrings like the great Victorian novelists, who oftentimes wrote about abandoned orphans, poverty, and life’s hardships. Bronte explores themes of Christian morality, class, sexuality, and feminism, and Jane Eyre is one of the most important novels written in paving the way for future female authors who were forced to take male pen names in order to be published in the nineteenth century.

By Charlotte Brontë,

Why should I read it?

39 authors picked Jane Eyre as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue, Canterbury Christ Church University College.

Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage.

She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester.

However, there is great kindness and warmth…


Book cover of Bleak House

Don Trowden Why did I love this book?

The omniscient narrator in this classic novel speaks to the reader in a dispassionate present-tense voice that helps reinforce the satirical tone and immediacy of the novel. Dickens, who grew up in a debtor’s prison and included his bleak observations of life in a debtor’s prison in many of his great novels, used his fiction to shine a light on the social injustices of Victorian life. Bleak House shines much of that light on the punitive legal system (sound like today?), which Dickens exposed in some of his other novels as well. In thinking about the many theatrical and film adaptations made of this novel, we can see how much easier that work was due to the present tense writing, which creates the immediacy and suspense found in many great films.

By Charles Dickens,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Bleak House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Esther, at fourteen, has never known love. Determined to live well, earn some love and overcome the shadow of her birth, she takes her first steps into an unknown world. A family curse, a manipulating lawyer, poverty and secrets threaten to destroy Esther's world. Are the walls of Bleak House strong enough to protect her and her new friends from such powerful forces? The reader will be caught up in an unfolding mystery, full of surprises. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all is: Who is Nemo?


Book cover of The Hunger Games

Don Trowden Why did I love this book?

Suzanne Collins helped turn many a young person into an avid reader through her Hunger Games novels, which are written in the present tense. Like Dickens, these novels shed light on the ills of a corrupt society, in this case, set in the future, and like Dickens the author creates highly dramatic scenes that keep readers turning the pages in a feverish flow. Collins creates highly sympathetic characters struggling to survive within an evil world, in the tradition of great heroes overcoming obstacles, such as what is seen in The Iliad and The Odyssey. And, as is true of so many of the great Victorian novels, this present tense writing translates beautifully to the big screen in keeping viewers on the edge of their seats.

By Suzanne Collins,

Why should I read it?

54 authors picked The Hunger Games as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature. The Hunger Games is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever...


Explore my book 😀

Young Again

By Don Trowden, Valerie McKee,

Book cover of Young Again

What is my book about?

Young Again combines music, magic, and romance in an uplifting fantasy novel. Mabel Johnson has recently turned ninety years old and lives alone near Clarksdale, Mississippi. She is nostalgic thinking back on her Grammy award-winning career as a blues and jazz performer. In frequent pain, she no longer can play the piano, and compounding matters, her granddaughter was recently killed in a tragic car accident.

Mabel’s great-granddaughter Priscilla comes to visit for the week and prays that Mabel can be young again. When her prayer is answered, the two ladies set off on a week of romantic and musical adventures entangling a handsome young doctor, a music mogul, a homeless person, and an aspiring singer down on her luck.

Book cover of Rabbit, Run
Book cover of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Book cover of Jane Eyre

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,365

readers submitted
so far, will you?

You might also like...

Knife Skills

By Wendy Church,

Book cover of Knife Skills

Wendy Church Author Of Knife Skills

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a thrill seeker when it comes to reading, and I want to be so immersed in a story that I have to read it in one sitting and then can be completely taken by surprise by a plot twist. It was extremely hard to pick only five titles, so to narrow it down, I 1) made an attempt to pick from a few different sub-genres and, 2) stipulated that Agatha Christie could populate the entire list. All of these titles blend wonderful writing with great twists, and I hope you enjoy them. I did my best to avoid spoilers in the descriptions, although by being on this list, it’s a little bit of a spoiler…

Wendy's book list on plot twists that nail the art of surprise

What is my book about?

"Dizzying . . . Audiences who wished the TV series The Bear had made room for Russian mobsters are in for a treat" - Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

Sagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie's, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job. Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morozov, offers not only her Louie's job but…

Knife Skills

By Wendy Church,

What is this book about?

"Dizzying . . . Audiences who wished the TV series The Bear had made room for Russian mobsters are in for a treat" Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

Sagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie's, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job.

Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morzov, not only offers her Louie's job, but also…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in survival, mental disorders, and Pennsylvania?

Survival 203 books
Mental Disorders 182 books
Pennsylvania 91 books